October 6, 2020: India and South Africa have asked the World Trade Organisation on October 2, 2020, to waive some provisions in its TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement to make vaccines and treatment more accessible to low-income countries, reported Pharmalot.
September 30, 2020: AFTINET's submission to the Review of Bilateral investment Treaties (BITs) is here.
September 28, 2020: Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison re-announced Australia’s A$80 million contribution to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) to the UN General Assembly on September 26.
September 23, 2020: As former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott now advises the British government in its trade negotiations with the European Union, Australia and New Zealand, the trade unions from the three countries have issued a united call for decent work and high standards of health, environment and public services.
In case you missed our online 20th Birthday Party on Thursday September 17, 2020.
We had lots of positive messages that it was a great celebration of our collective efforts for trade justice.
Please feel free to share. through the links below.
September 17, 2020: Reports on the Energy Charter Treaty process to ‘modernise’ continue to demonstrate entrenched opposition to efforts to make it support the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to less than 20C.
September 15, 2020: British trade Secretary Liz Truss and Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu agreed in principle on September 11 to a free trade agreement, the UK’s first major trade deal as an independent trading nation.
The UK sees this deal forming a pathway to further market access under the 11-nation Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Transpacific Partnership (CPTPP), which Japan will support as part of the agreement.
September 10, 2020: The Energy Charter Treaty with its Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions has become a major obstacle to the Paris Climate Agreement, and current European efforts to reform it appear unlikely to succeed. EU parliamentarians are now calling for states to withdraw from it by the end of 2020.
September 8, 2020: A study published by Friends of the Earth Australia in May exposed a serious level of pesticide residues on foods imported into Australia in the period 2017-19. The data came from Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service monthly Failing Food Reports.
September 7, 2020: The Australian Greens have called for the Australia – Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement, which came into force on January 17, 2020, to be reviewed by a Senate Committee following the imposition by the central government in Beijing of the National Security Law, but the government and the Labor Opposition blocked the move.